


Encircle

by Highsmith (quimtessence)



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Canon Queer Character of Color, Canon Queer Relationship, Character Study, Feelings, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Post-Movie: The Old Guard (2020), Reunions, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:15:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28536507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quimtessence/pseuds/Highsmith
Summary: When Nicky sleeps it's dreamless and single-mindedly efficient in its pursuit ofrest. Logically, he knows hemustdream at times, if only because that is what the mind does. Thus, if he dreamed, it was always in ellipses he had no desire to fill in.Andy sends Joe off on a week of recon which gets prolonged to a little over a fortnight, but Nicky has been antsy and unevenly stitched together at the seams since day eight, lunchtime, when he thought he heard Joe's voice calling out to him from the living room, only to walk in to find Nile watching TV on her own, which earned him a brief nonplussed look followed by concerned glances all throughout dinner that night.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 41
Kudos: 271





	Encircle

**Author's Note:**

> ...so this has been sitting in my GDocs since August? Apparently? I kinda forgot I started writing this story at all, but here it is, finally finished and posted for your reading pleasure. :D

When Nicky sleeps it's dreamless and single-mindedly efficient in its pursuit of _rest_. Logically, he knows he _must_ dream at times, if only because that is what the mind does. Thus, if he dreamed, it was always in ellipses he had no desire to fill in.

Andy sends Joe off on a week of recon which gets prolonged to a little over a fortnight, but Nicky has been antsy and unevenly stitched together at the seams since day eight, lunchtime, when he thought he heard Joe's voice calling out to him from the living room, only to walk in to find Nile watching TV on her own, which earned him a brief nonplussed look followed by concerned glances all throughout dinner that night.

Days pass. He sleeps. He talks. He eats. He follows Andy's orders. He tries to rest.

He doesn't remember his dreams.

And, on day sixteen, Joe walks through the door of their safe house while the three of them are eating a very early breakfast at the kitchen counter, coincidentally sleepless before dawn's even properly arrived, the rattling of the door lock too loud in the quiet of the flat. Nicky doesn't inhale his coffee, though it's a close call. But his body only jumps out of itself for the first half of a second before he stills so absolutely it's a wonder his bones don't meld together.

What started as a tenuous tension since the Merrick affair has grown into a congealed mass. The last sixteen days haven't helped. Nile and Andy disappearing most days from morning to dusk to train hasn't either. Nor has the lot of them staying put while Joe has been actively interacting with a potential mark been doing any wonders for Nicky's state of mind. It's what they do, but he can't help wanting things to be different, for a little while.

Greetings all around abound. Joe's been checking in regularly, even managed a phone call towards the start of his time away. His safety has never truly been at risk. Somehow, it's only now that Nicky's heart slows to a normal beat. He should be out of his seat, but he's afraid he might topple over if he tried.

Inevitably, their eyes meet.

"Hi."

He watches Joe's mouth move around the word. Hypnotic, almost, were it not so brief.

Nicky doesn't need more than a moment to notice his beard is longer, especially on the sides. He had a haircut just before leaving, barely a trim, and his curls have grown back out. His face is lined with exhaustion, but Nicky witnesses a gradual untensing of his shoulders before his very eyes.

"Hi." It's more a puff of air than an actual word, but Joe hasn't looked away for even a second, so it hardly matters.

"How did it go?" Andy is asking, rising to her feet to greet Joe with a one-armed hug.

Shrugging, Joe finally breaks contact. "I didn't blow my cover, for what it's worth." His mouth twitches upwards self-deprecatingly, but the lines around his eyes don't crease into a real smile. While Nicky unsuccessfully tries to convince himself to stop staring, he proceeds to answer Andy's questions, and Nicky ignores Nile's eyes on the side of his head.

"He's a whale, Boss," is what Joe says in reference to their mark, and Andy nods and brings up some piece of info Joe must have previously communicated during a check-in to which Nicky wasn't privy.

They haven't looked at each other since Joe started reporting on his time away. Nicky is looking now, tracking his every moment, from head to toe.

It's been _sixteen_ days. His eyes zero in on the details.

Infinitesimally tighter across Joe's pecs, the shirt might be Nicky's for all he knows, or perhaps it's simply another victim of Andy's irreverent approach to laundry. Either way, it's got the look of wear a lengthy recon assignment brings, more dust and sweat than anything else. At the back, above the collar, the nape of Joe's neck is faintly sunburnt and unquestionably captivating. There is a room beyond the two of them, Nicky is fully aware, but it hardly seems to exist. Could, in fact, at any moment, cease existing altogether as far as he's concerned.

As Joe and Andy's conversation continues Nicky catalogues the scuffs in his jeans and the mud on his trainers and the dust on the rucksack lying by his feet. The familiar arch of his fingers hanging by his sides and the sharpness of his cheekbones beneath his beard and the delicate curve of his ears.

Once Andy returns to her interrupted breakfast, Nicky finally stands to move closer. They approach each other like curious creatures crawling out of the undergrowth towards an unfamiliar watering hole.

"Do you—" he starts, then stops with a huff. Licks his lips, which are a little too dry, as if he's been breathing through his mouth, which, for all he knows, he might have been given he's been fixedly cataloguing Joe's every movement.

"What?" Formally, it's certainly a question, but the tone speaks more towards something far more inviting.

Eyebrow cocked, Joe waits him out, openly expectant, though he doesn't resort to anything as infantile as biting his lip or twisting his hands together in front of him.

"Come here."

Joe does. He steps into Nicky's space, and, then, bodily wraps him in his arms, hands gripping at his lower back as Nicky grasps his shoulders tightly to press their chests together. He holds on, ignoring his body's signals for mild discomfort, ribs a little too closely together when Joe's embrace turns as viciously desperate as Nicky's has been from the very start.

"Are you going to allow me to breathe, my love?" As if Nicky's alone in keeping them pressed together.

There's mild amusement in his voice. If they were facing each other, he might have smiled toothly. Nicky wants to bite him. Doesn't. There's a room beyond them, still.

"You may, if you want to." His heart is beating too hard in his chest. Joe must surely feel it.

Humming, Joe merely hugs him tighter.

Behind them, Nile calls out, "Get a room."

Eventually, they do.

**Author's Note:**

> This story went through several rewrites, as I wasn't sure where I wanted to take it, but, in the end, it's all about the softness with these two, I guess. <3
> 
> If you liked the story, please consider leaving a kudos, or a comment, or even both. :)
> 
> Tumblr: [rhubarbdreams](https://rhubarbdreams.tumblr.com/)


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